University Chancellor causes row over 2022 football World Cup

Greg Dyke sparked an international row when he said it would be “impossible” to stage a football World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

The University Chancellor argued that Qatar’s summer, where temperatures can reach 40C, would be too hot for players and fans alike.

He believes the World Cup should be held during the winter or moved to a different nation altogether. His comments place mounting pressure on Fifa, world football’s governing body, and have also infuriated Premier League bosses who would see domestic league fixtures thrown into turmoil.

Dyke said: “You can’t hold this tournament in the summer in Qatar because it’s too hot. That would be difficult for players despite having an air-conditioned stadium – never mind the ‘green’ factor – and it would be impossible for fans.”

Dyke is just a few weeks into his new role as chairman of the Football Association.

He added: “The FA’s position will be that you can’t play it in the summer in Qatar. Fifa therefore has two choices: you either move it in time or location.”

The Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee responded saying, “It was the right decision to award the World Cup to the Middle East for the first time. We are ready to host in summer or winter… A decision to alter the time of the World Cup would not alter out infrastructure planning”.

Greg Dyke has been Chancellor of the University for nine years, but is expected to step down having helped the new Vice Chancellor Koen Lamberts “come in”.

2 comments

The FA is one of 51 national associations of UEFA that are affiliated with FIFA. Greg Dyke’s comments don’t put one iota of “mounting pressure” on anybody. “FA who?” Bitch all you want, “Chancellor”. FIFA isn’t listening. Qatar 2022 is a reality.

If the argument is that Arabic areas have never held a world cup, then why not in Oceania?

The only pleasing thing is the luxurious stadia but that means the most wasteful of global resources shared by all people of the world.

If you say that your air-conditioning technology is your biggest legacy then you are wrong. As a retired air-condition engineer, I am telling that even traditional systems can air-condition a building much bigger than a football stadium. All your team’s saying of efficiency is wrong too.

For instance, in China’s Chengdu, a shopping complex which is 100-m-high, 500m long and 400m wide, this New Century Global Centre has 1.7 million square m of floor area, big enough for 20 Sydney Opera Houses, is fully air-conditioned.

Don’t tell lies anymore.
The truth is any country can build an air-conditioned stadium.
The truth also is no country can air-condition the whole country.